Artemis
by Pyroken Serafoculus
Summary: One of the legion of old fables and legends, detailing the birth of the moon.


Artemis

A moonless night, blacker than the deepest abyss, was blanketing the world, suffocating hopes and bringing still more shadow to a world that was already engulfed in black turmoil. It was another night in the endless cycle fate had brought upon the world. During day the sun's bounty glowed dimly, bringing its meagre light to all living creatures, but after Sol, the Lucifer descended into the soil, the sky had only darkness to give.

_The darkness!_

All living creatures had retreated into the safety of their homes; all of them had the common sense to stay protected in seas as stormy as these. For not only had the obvious crisis arisen, but there was something much greater and more mysterious at hand. A plague roamed the empty valleys, maddening every live being in its path, urging them to use whatever was at hand to harm, maim, torture all near them. It was complete chaos.

_The chaos!_

There was only one lone being in the black. A miniature crescent, with no appendages to speak of, yet a position in the air that was unsupported by anything visible, hovered upon its post at the very peak of a mountain. Two scarlet orbs shone on either side, and small markings strewn across the body reminded one of craters on a moon, even though such a term was as alien to those who had seen the creature as this being herself would be to most. Almost oblivious to what was around her, the lunar boulder continued practicing her capacities, weaving and interweaving a network of Psychic threads around her, constructing a mesh of finely entwined, intricate patterns that interlaced with each other. Only a Psychic vision, a third eye, a deeper perception would allow one to witness this marvel, but if anyone had been there that night, they would have been entranced by the beauty of it.

_The beauty!_

All around her, a symphony played, beginning with a single melody that reverberated in her very essence. More tunes joined, complementing, leading, suggesting the way with gentle hints. The aria gradually quickened, the percussion increasing tempo, the individual voices building up, and the main song weaving through all of it, all increasing the tension that intensified with each passing beat. The harmony was rushing now, tension swelling with every moment, and the Lunatone in the midst of it knew it would burst forth any second in all its glory.

_Oh, the glory!_

But it did not. The music kept building up. It did not commence with the climax, simply continuing down its snowball path. An energy, one the Lunatone had never knew she possessed, broke free, and the very rock from the surrounding terrain left its earthy grave to join the joyful wanderings of the Psychic web nearby. Abstract sculptures of stone rose from the soil, intertwining with each other, following the beaten track made by its clairvoyant counterpart. The Psychic energy itself came into visibility in the form of pale white light and mingled with the rock, infusing it with pallid beige. And through it all, the music continued to build.

_I am the pinnacle of rock._

Metal came next, formulating in huge, bizarre, and powerful arcs that crisscrossed with themselves, making a protective dome of steel around the orderly confusion. It contracted, hardening, passing rapidly through the colours of the spectrum, and shrinking all the while, until it melded with its nonliving contents, giving them a silvery, ethereal glow that would never leave its host for ages to come. And through it all, the music continued to build.

_The apex of steel._

A half-mile ring around erupted into flame, crackling maliciously as it made its way inwards, burning everything that dared to stand in its path. Nothing could stop its hungry appetite as it swelled, leaving only black ash in its wake, reducing complex proteins to one simple element: carbon. It reached its target, desiccating the maelstrom inside before it faded. And through it all, the music continued to build.

_The zenith of flame._

Storm clouds gathered, stars collided; hail shone its wrath upon the land. Great gusts of air maneuvered all the chaos into even more intertwining tentacles that wrapped around, infusing it with power. Even the black of the night seemed compelled into joining the mad dance. Then, as the music reached its climax, the elements joined to form one single orb of silvery white light.

_I am the Guaidara Nova, Lucifer of midnight, Sol of the dark…_

The orb rose into the air, going ever higher, but never losing its enormity. It reached the top of the world, and, as it hardened into ethereal rock, the concerto ended.

_My name is Artemis._

* * *

Well, then. This is my very first one-shot, my beginning snatches at description. I can say the lines of half-poetry between paras was somewhat original of me, though several portions of the description commit the sin of being _entirely_ devoted to imagery, or beefing up the work. I've put this up more as a reference milestone than anything else, since it was surprising of me to manage even this much at the level of writing I was at during the time.

To explain, there is a certain reference in the Upholder of Duty to the moon being fabled to have only recently been created, for unknown reasons. At the time, the sole source of light in the night sky, excpeting the stars, had been dismantled; and the world lay (for spoiler reasons) in both literal and metaphoric dark. This is my depiction of a Lunatone transcending into this steady, eternal figure, and a beacon to the lost and destitute roaming the fields. (I have to say, the reference to Artemis, the Greek moon goddess, was somewhat shallow. The moon here is no hunter but a steady, reliable pillar for the hopeless to lean against.)


End file.
